ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1106 Thessaly is in action
To show his sincerity, Jason also stopped the siege and led his army back to Philae.

Faced with a difficult choice, the Pharsalians finally decided to make a last-ditch effort and sent Polydamas to Sparta for help.

At the meeting of the Spartan elders, Polydamas told the Spartan elders and prosecutors everything in detail, and he also reminded: "If you Sparta decide to rescue our Spartan Sally, it's best to send out your most elite troops, because if you just send an army headed north by ordinary officers and mainly composed of freed helots, then it's best not to act rashly! Because Jason not only has a A powerful army, and he himself is also a shrewd, capable and far-sighted general. The battles he commands have never failed, so he will be a strong enemy of Sparta!"

After Polydamas's speech ended, the Spartans did not make an immediate decision, but they obviously paid attention to it and sent people to Thessaly to understand the situation in the following period. The number of troops overseas was carefully counted.

Finally, the Council of Elders gave Polydamas a clear answer: "Dear Polydamas, our main force of Sparta is either at war with the Athenian navy or with the Thebans. Therefore, we are currently unable to provide sufficient reinforcements for you, Pharsalus. However, we hope that the Thessaly allies headed by Pharsalus will not surrender to Jason easily, as long as you can resist the Philae army tenaciously. Invasion, as soon as our war with Thebes is over, we will immediately send powerful reinforcements to support!..."

When Polydamas came to Sparta, he saw that the territory was sparsely populated, and he had expected it. Therefore, after receiving a definite reply from the Council of Elders, he did not show any surprise, disappointment or other negative emotions. He was calm. Thanked the Spartans for their frankness, and then set off for home.

As soon as he returned to Pharsalus, he called for a citizens' assembly to be convened immediately and informed everyone of Sparta's decision.

The disappointed citizens of Pharsalus finally made a decision after heated discussions.

Polydamas once again served as an envoy to Philae, met with Jason, and stated to him: "As long as Jason makes a promise not to harm the people of Pharsalus or occupy the land of Pharsalus, Without destroying the acropolis of Pharsalus, the people of Pharsalus are willing to become Jason's sincere allies and help him establish the rule of Tagus..."

Jason was overjoyed after hearing this and immediately made an oath to Polydamas.

Later, Polydamas even sent his own son to Jason as a hostage.

Not long after, the Pharsalus people headed by Polydamas persuaded their close allies one after another. In the spring of 374 BC (the 19th year of the Kingdom of Dionysia), envoys from the Thessalian city-states gathered in Phassal. Russ, together elected Jason Tagus of Thessaly.

After Jason became Tagus, he began to unify the city-states of Thessaly. While promising not to interfere in the internal affairs of the other Thessalian city-states, he also formulated a new Tagus law: no war should occur between city-states. Conflicts and disputes must be left to him for negotiation and adjudication; each city-state is not allowed to sign any agreement or join any alliance with other city-states, and all foreign affairs are decided by him; each city-state must pay tribute on time every year, and the amount paid will be determined by him according to each city-state. It is determined by the financial resources of the state; each city-state must provide a certain number of cavalry and heavy infantry. The specific amount is determined by him based on the strength of each state. In peacetime, he will regularly train these soldiers and lead them on expeditions in wartime...

In addition, he also adopted Polydamas's opinions, unified and reduced commercial taxes between city-states, and allowed the free circulation of goods. This greatly strengthened the economic ties between the city-states of Thessaly and made the inland Trade gradually became prosperous.

By the end of the year, Jason had recruited more than 8000 cavalry and no less than 20000 heavy infantry from the entire territory of Thessaly, and the number of light shields was equivalent to that.After further strengthening his strength, he immediately issued instructions to the various races and tribes in the mountains around Thessaly, asking them to follow the Thessalian Tagus Scopas determined during the Greco-Persian War decades ago. If he fails to pay tribute, he will be punished by his army.

Some tribes were afraid of Jason's terrifying strength and chose to submit, while some rebellious tribes rejected his request.

Therefore, Jason decisively led his army to crusade, which also ignited the flames of war in Northern Greece.

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At the same time that Jason was elected to Thessaly Tagus, the Athenians encountered difficulties: on the one hand, they saw that their former enemy, their neighbor Thebes, had become more and more powerful with their own help. However, they still refused to pay tribute to help maintain the expenditure of the Athens fleet; on the other hand, Athens' own finances were stretched by various military expenditures. Of course, even so, the citizens of Athens were unwilling to cut subsidies for watching dramas.

Therefore, under the proposal of the chief general Callistratus and others, the citizens' assembly passed a resolution: to negotiate a separate peace with Sparta.

Soon Athens sent envoys to Sparta.

Sparta is getting what it wants: in recent years, their army has been fighting in Boeotia. Although they have achieved some small victories, they have never been able to defeat Thebes. On the contrary, Thebes has become stronger and stronger. Sparta's prestige has declined year by year, and it is now becoming increasingly difficult to fight against it.The Athenian navy was even more of a headache for Sparta. Not only were they unable to fight it, but they were also unable to prevent the Athenian navy from swimming in the Peloponnese waters as if they were just hanging out in their own back garden, attacking Sparta's allies wantonly, posing a serious threat. To the safety of Sparta's rear.

Therefore, an armistice agreement between Sparta and Athens was quickly signed.

After being informed by the generals' executive committee, the Athenian naval admiral Timothyus, who was away at war, was preparing to lead his fleet back to Athens.But on the way back, he landed on the island of Zakynthus without authorization, took control of the city-state on the island, and announced that the exiles of the city-state were allowed to return to their homeland (Zakynthus received the support from the Spartans, driving out the democrats).

After learning the news, Sparta believed that Athens had violated the armistice agreement, so it called on its allies to jointly fund the formation of a fleet to protect the rights and interests of all allies in this sea area.

At the same time, Sparta also asked the new commander to lead the fleet to launch an expedition to Corcyra.

The Corcyraeans, who were attacked, rushed to Athens for help.

Athens could not allow Kercyra, who had just joined the Maritime Alliance, to be bullied by the Spartans, otherwise Athens, as the leader of the Maritime Alliance, would inevitably lose the trust of its allies.What's more, Corfu's unique geographical location controls the Gulf of Corinth and various city-states along the south coast of Corfu Island, making it the best base to launch an invasion of the Peloponnese from the west.At the same time, this is also an important trade route between the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean, so it must not be given up.

For various reasons, the citizens of Athens did not elect Timothy as commander of the fleet this time, but chose Iphicrates, one of the Athenian generals.

As a result, the armistice agreement reached between Athens and Sparta lasted less than a few months, and war broke out again.

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The east side of the Adriatic Sea is constantly fighting, while the west side is a scene of peace and prosperity.

After entering September, after enjoying the joy of the harvest, the people of Dionia are looking forward to the Hades celebration that is coming soon. Every day, thousands of people flock to the largest city in the Western Mediterranean Thurii makes the center of the Dionian Kingdom bustling with excitement and joy every day.

It was in this lively and suffocating atmosphere of joy that Okriton entered the city of Turiine.

Since the Western Mediterranean War, he has not been to Dionia again. This time he came to Thurii because the Dionia sent an invitation, requiring Carthage to send an envoy to participate, and the Hannoists There was something important to discuss with Dionia, so he forcibly appointed Okriton, who was still familiar with Dionia, to attend the Hades celebration.

Although Okridon had negotiated with Dionia on behalf of Carthage many times in the past, he had actually never been to Thurii, and this large city of tens of thousands of people shocked him more than Haka. It is even bigger in Turii, after all, the floating population in the city during the celebration is much larger than usual.

He stood on the bow of the ship, looking at the busy scene of countless docks on both sides of the Craty River, and couldn't help but wonder: If Carthage had won that war, would the city of Carthage also look like this? !

But the facts cannot be changed, and thinking about it will only increase troubles. The more prosperous Thurii becomes, the more powerful the Kingdom of Dionia becomes. This undoubtedly adds a lot of difficulty to subsequent negotiations...Ok Liton frowned, lost in thought.

Sail into the inner city of Turui by boat, but stop outside the pier, because there are already many ships docked in the pier, busy unloading, and there is no extra trestle for the time being, so there are still some passenger ships lined up at the pier. They had to wait outside, and the passenger ship from Carthage arrived the latest, so they had to be last in line.

The entourage around Okriton took a small boat to go ashore to inquire about it. After returning, he reported: "Sir, I have inquired clearly. The Etruscan fleet is unloading now. They have come with 20 ships. I heard that most of the ships were loaded with bronze vessels, blankets, cloth, gold and silver products, olive oil, wine and other items. I heard a few Iberian crew members bragging at the dock that their alliance even served the King of Dionia. A golden crown was made, with many gems inlaid on it..."

(End of this chapter)